Since the days of Bergkamp, Davids and Kluivert, I’ve had an affinity for Dutch players, so I was primed to like Lutsharel Geertruida from the jump.
Then he almost scored this goal.
And then, on his first start, he provided the hockey assist (to another Dutchman) for this legendary goal.
I was all in, yet Sunderland and Geertruida never seemed to be.
With the arrival of Thomas Meunier, it’s time for me and the other MaLFs (Massive Lutsharel Fans) to make our peace with the idea he won’t be back in red and white this coming season.
And that’s OK.
Geertruida’s versatility led to him playing the eleventh-most minutes in the entire squad, with seventeen starts, but he was never Régis Le Bris’ first choice, only starting games in the first half of the season when Le Bris went five in the back, during AFCON and during the Granit Xhaka/Reinildo/Nordi Mukiele injury crisis in the spring.
He didn’t appear seven times — including four consecutive matches during the run-in, and it might’ve been all seven to finish the season if Dan Ballard hadn’t been suspended.
The focus has been on whether it’s a mistake for Sunderland not to trigger the option to buy, with very little acknowledgement that Geertruida might not have been interested in returning. He seemingly wanted out in January when a move to Liverpool sputtered, and he certainly wants to be a weekly starter at right back.
That wasn’t going to happen at Sunderland. He’d need Mukiele to be moved to centre back ahead of Ballard and to beat out Le Bris’ favourite, Trai Hume.
I think Geertruida saw that his best opportunities lay elsewhere, and I think Sunderland was pretty OK with that.
Signing Meunier saves £20 million, adds a ton of experience and offers similar, if not the same, level of versatility. Meunier can provide the attacking width of Mukiele and though he’s not the defender Hume is, his defensive numbers are comparable to Geertruida.
“We had an opportunity with Thomas, which is more or less the same profile.”
“He can play inside as a third centre-back, probably. He can play as a full-back, he can play as a wing-back. So, we’ll have this ability to manage different positions and different roles on the right side,” Le Bris said to the Northern Echo.
There’s a decent chance that this is a win-win for all concerned. Sunderland’s right side has been reinforced at a discount rate and for his sake, I hope Geertruida gets a move somewhere he can be a starter.
I just hope it isn’t in the Premier League.
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